When taking down the mast of our Special Edition (all white coated aluminum), we broke the mast hinge aluminum casting. So the area where the pin goes through the hinge and the base of the mast is not there.

Had some salvage parts from another regular 18, but the parts/holes do not line up.

Anyone know when this part changed shape/design? I need to find one that matches, rather than the stock 6065011 part number.

As far as I know, there have never been any changes to the mast step hinge. The only change that was made was in the early 80's when they changed from a 2-rivet to a 4-rivet mast step. The mast step casting and dolphin striker rod changed slightly, but the interface with the hinge stayed the same. My guess is that you're just seeing some variation in the castings as part of the "normal" manufacturing tolerances.

Assuming the holes are close to lining up, some things you can do. 1) Place spacers/washers under the plastic 1/2 ball on the mast step to get the holes in the hinge to line up better (you can use H16 mast chips with a hole drilled in the middle as a spacer). 2) Use a 1/8" diameter screw driver rather than the 3/16" mast step pin to connect the hinge to the step. The smaller diameter will allow for some misalignment between the holes in the step and hinge and the handle of the screw driver will make it easier to install/remove the "pin".

I believe the "SE" in Hobie 18SE, with the clear anodized aluminum extrusions, stood for "standard edition." The color of the anodization is the only difference that I know of between these boats and those with the black anodized aluminum. I like the look of the clear aluminum, and that it won't get hot in the sun... not sure why Hobie made the change, or why it hasn't been changed back!

I don't believe the process of drilling the holes in the cast aluminum parts is/was very well controlled, as the replacement mast step that I got had holes that were significantly off of the original locations, so you may need to re-drill.

Readings srm's response, I'm not sure which holes are misaligned... sail681, are you saying that 1) the rivet holes in the spare mast base do not line up with the rivet holes drilled in your mast,2) the pin holes in the mast base do not line up with the pin hole in the mating mast hinge piece, or 3) the pin holes in the mast hinge piece do not line up with the mast step?

If it's case 1, I'd just drill new holes 45 degrees off of the current locations. In case 2, I'd replace the mast base and mast hinge piece together as a set. Case 3 shouldn't happen, as the pin holes in the hinge piece should line up with the mast step regardless of the 2 rivet or 4 rivet style mast base... but if it does, I suppose I'd try another hinge piece.

So holes on the pivoting casting part are in different locations. White exiting part fits tight swinging into the bast base and the black won’t swing in the mast because the hole is not in the same location.

Could really use some clarification in your description of the problem, but if I am understanding your second post, I believe what you’re saying is the aft hole in the hinge is not lining up properly with the hole in the mast base so the hinge can not rotate and seat properly in the base.

You’re going to need to place the hinge into the mast base (with the clevis pin removed) and just look through the holes to see how far out of alignment they are. If it’s only a small amount, then you might be able to get away with just oversizing one of the holes slightly (I would probably use a small round file). I wouldn’t want to remove too much material since doing so would make the whole hinge assembly sloppy and is going to reduce the wall thickness around the hole. Or maybe you can just file off some of the hinge where it’s hitting the base. Without seeing the parts or having a real clear description of the problem, it’s hard to say for sure the best course of action.

If its the rivet holes lining up to put in the mast base then yea, not surprised as it seems they were just drilled by a dude manually without a jig because all mine are in slightly different positions. You can always just drill new holes as the load is on the lip of the casting, not the rivets anyway. They are just there to keep it from falling out when trailering basically.

If its the mast pin that doesnt line up then welcome to the club. All my pins can sometimes take a little humpin and bumpin to get in the hole all the way.

Consider that as the plastic of the mast step and the teflon washer under it wears it's going to change the alignment of the hinge to the mast step base anyway. I'd consider wallowing out the step base before the hinge since the hinge doesn't have a lot of extra material to begin with. It can't be off by much. You could also just use a smaller diameter pin, there really isn't all that much load on it realistically. I've used a piece of 1/8" line in there in a pinch successfully before.

To post pictures, you need to upload them to a site like photobucket or make a public album on facebook, and then copy and paste a link to the image to this forum.

If I'm understanding, the holes for the pin that connects the mast base (60641031) to the mast hinge (60650011) aren't lining up. There shouldn't have been any changes to these parts over the years, so they should be the same. However, if they don't line up (but are very close), I'd do as srm recommended and file one out slightly. Otherwise, I'd order a replacement hinge piece (60650011), and see if it lines up better... although at a price of $50+ each , I'd go for the file, or a 3/16" pin first.

My guess is that Hobie just didn't have strong enough process controls in place for manufacturing this part to keep the hole where it needs to be or the tooling to make the hinge/hole wore out. Either way, all else being equal, I would just use a small round file to carefully open up the hole in the hinge to get it to line up with the mating hole on the base. It looks like there's plenty of wall thickness there. Also need to be careful not to let the mast drift off to the side when raising/lowering. That's generally how people break the hinges.

Thanks Matt and srm. Our neighbors H18 got cooked in a dune fire so we were the recipients of 2/3 of a H18 of spare parts. The black base came from their boat. We are no longer a white painted OEM stock special edition .

It was late October last year on a cold Michigan day when we took our boat off the dune and admittedly let the mast swung to the side upon descent. Yep, we’re 30 yr veterans that made an idiot mistake and broke the base.

Black part + drill + file = fixed...

Our armada of H14, 2@H16, H18 will be back in full service w this repair!